The Legend

She flicks open her eyes and has a scream whimper from her lips. Having sat up immediately, her book tumbles over and closes shut which returns her to her thoughts from her nightmare which seem to be all but forgotten. Her eyes glow now as they adjust to the shadowed land only the peaking light of the new day comes to welcome them.

"You too? Surprised you slept that long," he says from the small boulder across from her to her right. He had thought she would have slept till morning but he was glad she woke earlier for he was getting quite bored.

"Me too? Oh well sometimes I can't sleep but when I do I easily wake up just used to being alert at night. I sleep better in the day but in the wilderness, nights keep me awake and the sun hurts my eyes. Traveling to far places in the daylight is better. Just so happened to sleep better tonight aside from my dream." she shrugs and chuckles a bit. She stretches and leans forward reaching to her book and stuffing it back to her satchel near her feet.

"We are moving out then?" he asks and stands up and steps to stand near her. He offers a hand out to help her up. Being more respectful toward her now that he knows she will have his back, even from street thugs and now knowing they have much in common, he patiently waited.

"Yeah sure. Don't see why not. Know what time it is?" she asks, taking his hand tightly and he pulls her up. Letting go of his hand she then stretches and grips her coat from the ground and slips it on over her dirt-smeared muscle shirt.

His eyes stare at her scars wondering what man had come to finish off a deathclaw so quickly to save her in such a nick of time.

"Six-oh-five," he says low, giving the sky a quick glance then looking back to her.

"Yeah let's get a move on," she says low and leans to the blanket and begins packing up.

Back on the way down the hill they return to the motorcycle. The silence was kept between them for a moment as they made sure the area was clear before they headed out. To the corner of her eye, she sees his sunglasses held out to her.

"Hum? Oh no, I am fine. I will find a pair soon. I plan to buy some." she says kindly but looks up to his brown eyes seeing he would not take no for an answer.

"Just take them. I am not going to offer them again," he says deeply and shoves them to her hands. "You seem to need them more than I do. You need to be ready for anything," he warns.

She keeps silent and hears his tone, clearly understanding what he means so she takes the sunglasses hesitantly and props them up on her head. Now returning to the seat of the motorcycle they head back out, this time off-road. The rough terrain keeps her swaying and dodging rocks of medium size. Occasionally Boone bumps against her back in which he smells her sweet sweat; he clears his throat once and keeps a tighter grip to the leather strap to the seat to keep him still as much as he possibly could handle in the wide area. The hilly terrain lives up to the name of Camp Golf. Coming to the resort building some rangers and NCR soldiers come out and eye the rare sight of a working artifact. One by the name of Chief Hanlon eyes her and then Boone. Boone swings off and waits for Susan to stand and get off as well before he speaks to her.

"That's the old man. He is a ranger and comms man here. That is the one you need to ask the questions to." he says low as she comes to his side with a light sigh. She lowers the glasses over her eyes and keeps them shaded from the now morning sky.

"Susan Goldeneye...La'Grange." Hanlon says confidently. Susan stops a step and cocks her head.

"Didn't know I was that popular for driving out some Powder Gangers…" she says low and in surprise.

"The golden eyes give it away young lady. We thank you for any help. I am just surprised you requested a helmet instead of caps. Every report comes here that is why you are the only one mercenary with a unique alias to match your rep." he says gladly and smiles. "Now what can this old dog do for you."

"I- well then sir I am surprised you don't know what I am here for," she says with a chuckle.

"If it is about your father I am happy to say he fought honorably at Hoover but we still haven't found him. I understand how your mother must feel about it. We are just spread too thin and yet another war is coming and coming fast." he informs her with a humble tone and a sorrowful gaze.

She did not want to hear about her father for the time nor about how her mother would feel about it. With her voice, now grimacing. "I am not here for my father...it is for my mother. I want to know the locations of enslavement camps of the Legions. Kindly if you will." she says breaking her eye contact once she mentioned Legion camps.

"That is a death wish for you. Whether you are a damn good sniper or not," he warns.

"Just tell her," Boone says low feeling a bit irritated from Susan being kept from what she had originally come for. To have an old man waste more of her time was irritating. To have spent some time making up a motorcycle from near scraps for years then to have an old man waste more of her time blathering about something she was uncomfortable with. She was mad at the fact her father had not returned home and that they had taken time to not search for him fully.

"Cottonwood Cove…the only major place when they transport and sell their slaves and captives," he says low and with a sigh. His intentions were to try and not send anyone there for suicide missions. The name of the place has Boone become tense as if something came back to haunt him.

"So there are going to be a shit load of those savages?" she asks suddenly as she crosses her arms tightly across her chest. She felt determined to go now but stuck herself to a strategic approach.

"Yes. A dozen or more have been reported there. That is a major base for them, it leads to Caesar's doorstep. I won't advise going there at all." he says quickly in a warning.

"That is more than enough reason to find the Burning Man," she says sternly and looks from the ground back to Hanlon who just smiles at her determination against her odds.

"He is real, all right. Whether or not he is alive you will have to find that out yourself." Hanlon says suddenly as if wanting to talk more about it but feels the need to stall her for the company and time for someone that actually cares what he has to say.

"Wait...he exists?" Boone and Susan's voices say in unison both do not give it a second thought and trail in behind Hanlon into the golf club resort.

"Yes, he does. I am guessing you want to know the legend?" he says tenderly and with a fatherly laugh as if he lived to tell history stories. He sends a clever and sparkling glance over his shoulder to the two just before stopping to a small room.

"Well yeah, sure! I only heard of him to be viewed as a boogeyman when I was young, but he helped my mother one time. Just thought it was some myth…you know some desert mirage." she says with a nervous and disbelieved chuckle. She glances around along the stairs and lifts the glasses to the top of her head. Her black hair pushes aside for them as she looks back into a small room where Hanlon sits down to a chair in front of a desk.

"Look we have no time for this, not if her mother is at Cottonwood," Boone says suddenly and almost worried but glances back at Susan.

"What? No, I need to know of this story. She is a survivor and I know she will keep living until I save her. Just wait Boone I am so close and I need a fighting chance to get my mother back. He will change the tides. I know it…" she says in a shaken voice of desperateness.

Hanlon looks to Boone and he raises a hand to him. "She is right but I am not so sure he would if he is alive."

"I will try. I don't care, I will persuade him. Somehow…" She leans against the wall near the door and looks to Hanlon impatient to hear the truth of the myth.

"As you know the first Battle of Hoover Dam. Caesar's Malpais Legate, by the name of Joshua Graham, was ruthless. He had led the battle there atop of the Dam but he was reckless. He didn't adapt and kept by the book. He had led them all there but they became stuck there for good. Rangers and first recon sharpshooters started picking them off. Then once that was damaging them enough, our NCR veterans pushed them back and led them to Boulder City and that was a ticking time bomb. We had that city packed with C4 waiting for them. Some of our men died there but it took out more than enough of their men. Our men's names were carved into the memorial there, just outside the city. For the rest of the Legion on the dam, they were distraught and Graham had ordered a full retreat. He went back to Caesar, back to the Grand Canyon. That was it from then on. Last we heard of him." he says and sits back in his seat waiting for questions.

"But that doesn't add up to his name...why did he get the alias of the Burning Man?" she asks quickly and leans forward feeling ever so curious. "My mother had said she had seen him up north along the fifteen also, that is in no way the direction of the Grand Canyon. So he couldn't stay there," she says tapping her chin now in thought.

"You are right. Joshua was a missionary from Utah. As for the Burning Man, his loss led him to be an example that failure was not an option. So, Caesar, had his praetorians cover him in pitch, lit him on fire, and tossed him down into the Canyon. As your mother said he could be alive. He was the toughest man ever seen, to have to fight against him would be to fight death itself. So it isn't quite clear. Along with that, during the battle, there were five kill reports from our best snipers that tried to take him out on the dam. There could…"

"Could be a possibility of him being in Utah if he is in fact a missionary...my mother had worked for the Happy Trails before the mad tribes and raiders. Yeah...I know of only one society that has missionaries up north and that is New Canaanites. I have done my research that far, just wasn't entirely sure till now. I can at least track where he may be." The brain she had trained in the depth of retaining knowledge had shown out to the two; Boone being more surprised than the both of them.

"So you don't need to know anything more, then. I am glad I could help draw you to a conclusion on your search, miss La'Grange. Anything else?" he asks lastly before standing up.

"My father, Hudson La'Grange. He never talked about his military life not even when I was eighteen. He was a ranger and was secretive. Here…" she shakes her bag to move the section of medical supplies zipped to one side. She spots her journal and slips the picture out of her and her family. "Him...what did you know of him?" The image of her father compares to the similarity of her hair color, brows, observant eyes, and skin color. Her mother had auburn hair and the slim elegant roundness of her mother's kind, strong, and angelic like face had been passed to her.

"He had been one of the best informants. He was one to get things done and relay information and spotting things of any kind. Great ranger yet he had always kept to himself a loner in his work. I heard he spoke of your intelligence and how greatly you matched your mother. Only the closest talk we had before the war." he smiles hoping it gives her some peace and warmth to her hidden feelings.

It did give her warmth and a smile masking her sorrow behind her gleaming eyes. "I am glad to hear it. I am sure he is out there somewhere. Surviving…" she says lower, clearly showing her discomfort in her mind.

She had thought her father would not have cared about the larger amount of time she had spent with her mother instead of with him. Originally the motorcycle was a welcome home gift for her father to show she loved to fix things as he did and she expanded her knowledge to prove so. She keeps her smile as she then turns to the entrance.

"Thank you again, Hanlon. I appreciate it," she says and looks back with a smile and gives him a small gentle wave with both of her hands. Her voice was happy in tone and hopeful for the days to come but she was expecting challenges ahead.

Hanlon sends a wave to her and Boone and she stops outside for the moment bringing down the glasses over her eyes.

"So going north?" he asks low and pauses at her side as well.

"Yes, I already have the place marked. It is an old tunnel," she says patting the map near her left breast under her coat. "It will be a journey so we will have to make a stop at a general store or just at the Crimson caravan. Whichever is closer to our destination. Wait...you are okay with traveling to somewhere new?" she asks before assuming with such ease.

"If it will have the Legion at the end of my scope sooner, yeah," he says quickly and steps forward coming to her bike and stretches his legs a bit.

"We should be at the Crimson Caravan by this afternoon. I got some money to spend and to stock up on food and water at most. You?" she asks low and eyes him as she sways her rifle to the front of her before sitting on her bike. Tightening the straps of all her gear she stretches her arms above her.

"I got some for medical supplies but I am fine. I don't eat much. I drink more than eat." he answers her and waits for her to start it.

"Oh well I am well stocked on stimpaks, wraps and they are sterilized too. I know the basics," she says and kickstarts the bike and sits back down flaring the tails of her duster off to the sides of the seat and out of the way for Boone.

"Good I am glad you are prepared. Better than most travelers out there," he says low and climbs on. Locking his heels to the back pegs he heaves a tired sigh.